Steve Jackson Games is not known for the quality of their materials. So I was very excited when I saw they were going all out to bring OGRE and GEV back to gamers in a huge, super-deluxe edition. I remember playing this game solo while in a motel waiting for the college interview at the school I would later attend, so I have fond memories of it.

Here's the scoop from SJ himself:

Quote

March 24, 2011: Open (Ogre) Letter To Distributors

Later this year, we’ll release Ogre 6th Edition. It will be a very, very deluxe boardgame, with all the rules and units from Ogre, G.E.V., and Shockwave, as well as things that have only appeared in magazines and miniature releases.

Why? Because I want to. Ogre was my first design, and the boardgame version hasn’t been available for years. And people keep asking me for it. So some of our Munchkin money is going back to support the people who bought my very first game, by bringing them an edition with the best possible components.

It won’t be “Euro” style. No meeples, no plastic. This will be the kind of hex wargame that we dreamed about 30 years ago, back when our heroes were SPI and Avalon Hill. HUGE double-sided map boards. HUGE full-color counters with HUGE type. A HUGE box to hold them in. And giant constructible Ogres!

So why am I writing this letter? Not to say “Hey, distributors, we’ll do this if you like the idea.” I’m going to release this game, no matter what. If we don’t get enough distributor interest, we’ll release it for direct sales only, with (probably) a lower print run, and (certainly) a lower price, since we won’t have to build in the distributor and retailer margin.

But I don’t want to bypass distribution. We went through this with GURPS Russia, back in ’98. When we solicited it, the distributors said “Meh.” We believed in the book, and printed a short run for direct sales. Suddenly everybody wanted it! It sold out quickly, distributors and retailers demanded it, and we ended up reprinting it for distribution! I won’t go through that again.

Here’s why you may not want this game: It’s going to retail for $100, and it isn’t full of plastic toys. It’s a classic hex wargame, and those aren’t in fashion. Here’s why I hope you DO want it: •It’s a humongous, heavy box that will have a huge shelf presence. How big is it? Over twice the size of Munchkin Quest. It takes three copies of the original edition of Ogre to cover up the word "OGRE" on this box.•It’s got three huge mapboards with 1.5” hexes, and big full-color counters. The Ogre and building counters are 3-D constructible miniatures!•I don’t expect to keep this in print. Realistically, I expect to print it once and let people spend the next 30 years fighting over the remaining copies. The people who get it are going to show it off at parties and conventions.•It’s a pretty good game, if I say so myself. A lot of people remember it. (More than 25 years after its original release, Ogre won a spot in Hobby Games: The 100 Best.) Some of them would love to drop $100 for a beautiful version of the game they played 20 or 30 years ago, whether it was in high school, or in Germany or Kuwait or some classified spot in the middle of the Pacific.

Talk to Ross, and feel free to write directly to me at [email protected]. We've also created a sell sheet with more information; please note that the art, both on the sell sheet and above, is not final.

-- Steve Jackson

Now I'm not sure I can justify the cost or the shelf space for this game, but I didn't know this existed and had a random, "I wonder if this exists" moment come to startling reality when searching for it earlier today, so I'm certainly going to consider it.

Yeah, I don't know if I'll get this one. I have the last Deluxe Ogre that was released that had actual 1/285 miniatures in three plastic cases. Including infantry, GEV, and artillery miniatures. This new one seems kind of a let down from that.

Logged

A Pew Research Center poll found nearly half of Americans hold the false belief that TARP was passed under President Obama, while only 34 percent know it originated under Bush."Oh yeah?" Bush replied. "50% of the people were wrong."

Here's a link to the PDF sell sheet. I like the look of it and really want to pick it up. Especially since it's going to be a single run. I imagine that I will head by SJ games' booth at Origins to pump them for more information.

And chits or no, for the mini lovers, there are miniatures that are available from the store to supplement it.

Here's a link to the PDF sell sheet. I like the look of it and really want to pick it up. Especially since it's going to be a single run. I imagine that I will head by SJ games' booth at Origins to pump them for more information.

And chits or no, for the mini lovers, there are miniatures that are available from the store to supplement it.

I'm glad you posted that. It wasn't what I was picturing at all. The cardboard figures look like the cheap self-assemble ship games you can buy for a couple of bucks a pack. Seems like typical SJG to charge $100 for that.

I haven't done a good enough job recently of communicating the status of Ogre 6th Edition. The status is: Still planned, still the super-fancy as per the prototypes you can see on that page (and which I expect will show up in the display case at PAX in a couple of weeks) . . .

And definitely still not on track for 2011. I warned everyone in May that it might not happen in 2011, and now I can say it definitely won't. I knew that at the end of June, before I took July off, and I should have shared.

There's no sophisticated marketing reason (and, for that matter, no sinister financial reason) for the delay. It's just "not enough hours in Steve's day." Ogre takes a certain amount of concentration and "getting into state" to do right. It's fun, but it's a lot more demanding fun than, say, making up Munchkin curses.

I continue to get more mail about this than any other upcoming project (definitely more than for any single Munchkin projects, probably more than for any two). I know you want it; I want to do it . . . it's just going to take more work.

I haven't done a good enough job recently of communicating the status of Ogre 6th Edition. The status is: Still planned, still the super-fancy as per the prototypes you can see on that page (and which I expect will show up in the display case at PAX in a couple of weeks) . . .

And definitely still not on track for 2011. I warned everyone in May that it might not happen in 2011, and now I can say it definitely won't. I knew that at the end of June, before I took July off, and I should have shared.

There's no sophisticated marketing reason (and, for that matter, no sinister financial reason) for the delay. It's just "not enough hours in Steve's day." Ogre takes a certain amount of concentration and "getting into state" to do right. It's fun, but it's a lot more demanding fun than, say, making up Munchkin curses.

I continue to get more mail about this than any other upcoming project (definitely more than for any single Munchkin projects, probably more than for any two). I know you want it; I want to do it . . . it's just going to take more work.

-- Steve Jackson

Thanks Issy. I don't mind waiting.

Logged

The Gone Gold Effect has a strong influence on the weak minded ...GamerTag: Scoop20906

Thread necromancy! I could have sworn I followed a link from GT for this, but all I don't see a mention on the other Kickstarter threads here. Ogre is getting reprinted (6e) and had a cool KS run gathering almost a million dollars in support. And yes, some of that money is mine.

It closed now, but hit the link for the summary. One of the good news for this is that it will now see a larger run and even non-KS supporters should have a good chance to pickup a copy. And it's cool to see Steve getting to the director's cut version of his baby.

Now I just need to track down where my copy of Battlesuit got off to...